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Lou Diamond Phillips

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Lou Diamond Phillips

Lou Diamond Phillips, August 2007
Born February 17, 1962 (1962-02-17) (age 49)
Subic Bay Naval Station, Philippines
Occupation Actor, film director, television director
Years active 1984–present
Spouse Julie Cypher (1987–1990)
Kelly Phillips (1994–2007)
Yvonne Marie Boismier (2007–present)

Lou Diamond Phillips (born Lou Diamond Upchurch; February 17, 1962) is an American film, television, and stage actor. His breakthrough came when he starred in the film La Bamba. He earned a supporting actor Golden Globe Award nomination for his role in Stand and Deliver and a Tony Award nomination for his role in The King and I. Other notable films in which Phillips has starred include Courage Under Fire, Che, and Love Takes Wing.

Outside of acting, he has become notable for finishing 186th in the 2009 World Series of Poker World Championships "No Limit Texas hold 'em" main event.

Contents

[edit] Early life and education

Phillips was born as Lou Diamond Upchurch at the Subic Bay US Naval Station in Zambales, Philippines, the son of Lucita Aranas and Gerald Upchurch, an officer in the United States Navy.[1][2] His father was an American of Scots-Irish and one-quarter Cherokee descent, and his mother, a native of Candelaria, is a Filipino of Spanish, Chinese, Hawaiian and Japanese descent.[2][3][4] Phillips was named after Marine legend Lou Diamond.[5] He was adopted by his stepfather and took his surname "Phillips".

He was raised in Texas, where he attended Flour Bluff High School in Corpus Christi graduating in 1980. He graduated from the University of Texas at Arlington with a BFA in Drama.

[edit] Career

The first low-budget film in which he starred was called Trespasses. Phillips' big break came with the starring role in 1987's La Bamba, in which he played early rocker Ritchie Valens. Prior to his cinematic breakthrough, he starred in the Miami Vice episode "Red Tape" (13 Mar 1987), portraying detective Bobby Diaz.

In 1988, Phillips co-starred with Edward James Olmos in the inner-city high school drama Stand and Deliver, in a role for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture". He plays Angel Guzman, a cholo gangster who is inspired by his math teacher, Jaime Escalante, to excel at calculus. Working to master the subject, he develops a friendship with his teacher. Stand and Deliver was filmed before La Bamba, but it was released a year later. In 1988 and 1990, Phillips co-starred with Emilio Estevez and Kiefer Sutherland in the cowboy movies Young Guns and Young Guns II, in which he plays Jose Chavez y Chavez, a historical Old West outlaw.

In 1996, Phillips made his Broadway debut as the King in Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's The King and I. Phillips won a Theatre World Award and was nominated for both a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for his performance.[6]

In 1998 he starred as Cisco, the counterpart of the main character Melvin Smiley (played by Mark Wahlberg), in the comedy-action movie The Big Hit.

On September 11, 2007, Phillips joined the touring troup for Lerner and Loewe's Camelot in the role of King Arthur.[7]

He also played a role in the first season of the TV series 24 as secret government agent Mark DeSalvo, opposite former Young Guns star Kiefer Sutherland. Phillips played the recurring role of FBI agent Ian Edgerton in the television series Numb3rs. Edgerton is an FBI tracker and sniper who works as an instructor at Quantico FBI Academy when he is not working a case in the field. Phillips won the second season of the NBC reality series, I'm a Celebrity…Get Me out of Here!, over pro-wrestler Torrie Wilson.

Phillips had a recurring role as Colonel Telford in the Stargate Universe television series during its two-season run on the SyFy channel 2009-2011. He played the would-be commander of the Destiny expedition, who is left behind when an accident launches an unsuspecting crew into deep space. The commander works from Earth to bring the crew home.

Phillips has been a regular poker player since college.[8] In May 2009, Phillips placed 31st of 403 entrants in the 2009 California State Poker Championship Limit Texas hold 'em.[9] He placed in the money at the $10,000 July 2009 World Series of Poker World Championship No Limit main event.[10] On July 12, he was eliminated as the original field of 6,494 was trimmed from 407 to 185. He entered the day in 114th place among the 407 and was eliminated on the final hand of the day finishing in 186th place and earning $36,626.[11][12]

[edit] Personal life

[edit] Relationships and family

During the making of Trespasses, he met Julie Cypher, an assistant director. They married on September 17, 1987. They divorced on August 5, 1990; Cypher left him to start a relationship with rock musician Melissa Etheridge.

He met Jennifer Tilly, to whom he was briefly engaged, although the two never married. He later married Penthouse model and television extra Kelly Preston Phillips; they have two daughters: Grace Moorea and Isabella Patricia (twins born on October 5, 1997). They reside with their mother. Phillips and Preston separated in 2004 and their lengthy divorce was finalized in July 2007.

He began dating Yvonne Boismier in 2004, after his separation. They married in August 2007. Their daughter, Indigo Sanara, was born in October 2007.

[edit] Arrest

On August 11, 2006, he was arrested for domestic violence at his Los Angeles home following a dispute with his live-in girlfriend[13] and future wife, makeup artist Yvonne Boismier.[14] In December 2006, he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor count of domestic battery and was sentenced to three years' probation. He also was ordered to undergo one year of domestic violence counseling and to serve 200 hours of community service.[15]

[edit] Poker

Phillips plays on the World Poker Tour in the Hollywood Home games.[citation needed] Phillips took his poker game to the next level in 2009 when he entered the World Series of Poker $10,000 Main Event and was one of the survivors out of more than 6,000 players to make it to the money, finishing 186th.[16]

[edit] Activism

Phillips speaking at the Filipino American Library Spirit Awards and Dinner GALA in Los Angeles in October 2006.

Phillips has been an outspoken advocate of HR 4574,[17] the Filipino Veterans Equity Act of 2006, legislation to provide the same benefits to Filipino World War II veterans who served with the United States as have been available to other U.S. World War II veterans.

He is also a supporter of the Thoughtful House Center for Children, founded by Doctor Andrew Wakefield. It is controversial because of Wakefield's claims about the connection between the MMR vaccine and autism.[18]

[edit] Awards and achievements

[edit] Filmography

[edit] References

  1. ^ Lou Diamond Phillips Biography
  2. ^ a b "The Return of the Native". Starweek Magazine. 1999. ; no longer online, transcript at http://www.ritchievalens.org/thereturnofthenative.html
  3. ^ Second Generation
  4. ^ Honeycutt, Kirk (1990-08-19). "Lou Diamond Phillips: From Young Gun to Young Writer". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/1990-08-19/entertainment/ca-3055_1_young-guns. Retrieved 2009-11-28. 
  5. ^ My name is Lou Diamond Phillips, an American citizen of Filipino descent
  6. ^ IBDb
  7. ^ Broadway World.com. Accessed on February 24 2008
  8. ^ "Lou Diamond Phillips: The Mayor of Pokerville". Bluff Magazine. January 2006. http://www.bluffmagazine.com/magazine/Lou-Diamond-Phillips:-The-Mayor-of-Pokerville-Bluff-Staff-338.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-13. 
  9. ^ "2009 California State Poker Championship: Limit Hold'em". Bluff Magazine. 2009-05-03. http://www.bluffmagazine.com/tournaments/event/2009-California-State-Poker-Championship-May-3-2009-Limit-Hold%27em-613-7675.html. Retrieved 2009-07-11. 
  10. ^ "2009 40th Annual World Series of Poker: World Championship NL Texas Hold'em (Event 57)". Harrah's License Company, LLC.. 2009-07-??. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/tournament-chip-counts.asp?tid=7283&grid=607. Retrieved 2009-07-11. 
  11. ^ Stutz, Howard (2009-07-13). "WSOP giant falls; '08 champ still in: Final table of nine expected on Wednesday". Las Vegas Review-Journal. http://www.lvrj.com/news/50615262.html. Retrieved 2009-07-13. 
  12. ^ "2009 40th Annual World Series of Poker: World Championship NL Texas Hold'em (Event 57)". Harrah's License Company, LLC.. http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/tourney/tournament-results.asp?tid=7283&grid=607. Retrieved 2009-07-15. 
  13. ^ Although Yvonne denied he hit her, she admits to calling due to the fact that he wanted to drive while under the influence. The DA refused to take her statement. Phillips' publicist advised them to not fight the system in order to avoid any more publicity on this matter.Los Angeles Times, August 12, 2006
  14. ^ People magazine, August 11, 2006
  15. ^ "Lou Diamond Phillips sentenced to probation". MSN. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16101572. 
  16. ^ "Lou Diamond Phillips Makes WSOP Main Event Money". 2009-07-12. http://www.pokerworldreview.com/news/2009/07/12-lou-diamond-phillips-wsop-main-event-9431/. 
  17. ^ Fil Am Vets.com
  18. ^ http://www.thoughtfulhouse.org/092205-fundraiser.php

[edit] External links

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